the spirit of plaCe at a festival
Mental Mapping on sziget festival
abSTracT
This paper deals with the atmosphere of Sziget Festival. My research goal was to interpret and to depict the Festival as a socio-cultural environment, an experienced material and spiritual space, as a special place, that exists only for a week. Based on the results, the mental places of Sziget Festival i.e. places existing on festival goers’
mind, the most important values of the venue, the functions of the sites, the forces creating places, the most characteristic atmosphere elements of the place, and the channels of perception of the spirit of place can be described. The applied objective of the research was also to assist in festival development from the formation of festival image and marketing communication to practical considerations. Thus, the research points out the usability of both the social sciences and the applied research (marketing and market research) of genius loci and some well-suited methods.
‘Participants should – first and foremost – be offered experiences, this builds the brand best. The appealing venue and the excellent atmosphere are just as important as the music.’
(A Sziget ellenfelei [The rivals of Sziget] In: Forbes, June 2016, p. 48.)
inTrodUcTion
My research1 deals with the atmosphere of Sziget Festival. The present study describes the mental places of the Festival i.e. of Sziget goers, and presents its most characteristic atmosphere elements, the perception channels of the spirit of place, the invisible functions of the sites, and the forces creating places. The results, based on information from participant observation, provide an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the concept of the spirit of place, as well as, due to the method of mental mapping, depicting the results on a map.
The research started in 2014 when I participated as a researcher for the first time full time, day and night in the Festival for a week. That year was the foundation of the exploratory research described in this paper. At that time, I conducted an introspective participant observation, in which I described my assimilation and my changing aitudes at the Festival.
My most fundamental observation was that Sziget was in fact a unique world and where there was such an atmosphere, characterized by a variety of features and
circumstances, which was difficult to describe but easy to live through intensely.
Indeed, within Sziget, almost every corner and place has a unique character. In the summer of 2015 I attempted to explore this deeply elusive phenomenon, that is to say, to explore and deepen the understanding the spirit of the place, which I continued in 2016.
My research from 2015 has been given an applied research goal in a way that it provided support for the festival development from the formation of marketing communication (experience) to practical considerations (efficiency). Thus, the results can show the direction of application of the concept and methods that can be used in the studies in marketing communications and market research as well.
aboUT SZigeT feSTiVal
Sziget Festival, held in every August for a week, is one of the biggest music festivals and cultural events in Europe, and has won the title of Europe’s Best Major Festival twice. The event, which is organized in Budapest on an island [Hajógyári-sziget or Óbudai-sziget] in the Danube, is the biggest festival and tourist attraction of Hun- gary; it has been organized each year since 1993 and it has become more and more successful and international, and now it is one of Hungary’s image elements that attract the most foreign tourists. The Festival has a budget of € 25 million and in 2017 it had more than 450 thousand visitors.2
Sziget Festival has fifty programme locations, including five major music stages.
It can be argued that the Festival is very varied regarding both the music and prog- ramme offers. In addition to mainstream performers, music shows include world music, blues, jazz performances but it also offers electronic music performances which attract a special subculture. Besides music, one can also find children’s prog- rammes, stalls of various social organizations and associations but literature, dance, fine arts, and sport can be found as well. Over the last decade, the event has become increasingly commercialized, so today many sponsors and brands are present in the Festival. In the visually colourful Festival the organizers have created a unique decorative concept of the ‘Art of Freedom’, which means the placement of colourful, extravagant eye candies and a programme location called Artzone. The ‘Island of Freedom’ concept has been present in marketing communication since 2013, and it wasexchanged by the organizers to the ‘Love Revolution’ theme in 2018.
According to the 2017 check-in data (i.e. the demographic data on entry of Sziget Festival), 56 percent of visitors were foreigners. The most populous groups were the Dutch, the French and the Germans but the website of the Festival is currently available in 12 languages. 67 percent of visitors were in the 18 to 30 age group, which means that the main target group is predominantly people in their twenties.
The questionnaire survey of 1207 people carried out by Ipsos in 2017 for Sziget Cul- tural Management Ltd. reveals that 74 percent of festival participants were college or
university students or graduates. Their proportion has increased significantly over the recent years. Visitors were in a better subjective financial position in terms of their purchasing power. 56 percent of the respondents could comfortably make a good living and save according to their self-classification.3
THEORETICAl BACkgROUnD TO ‘gEnIUS lOCI’
Literature dealing with the spirit of place cannot be considered as coherent concep- tual unit. On the one hand, it can be said that it covers a very wide range of scientific areas (from humanistic geography (see e.g. Pocock: 1981). through literary theory, architectureand environmental psychology to sociology or even settlement marketing);
on the other hand, although the origin of the concept dates back to a long time ago, its social science usability has not yet matured. (Jankó: 2002) The spirit of place is an abstract phenomenon, which is difficult to grasp, difficult to define and concep- tualize. Due to all these, a social researcher who would like to deal with it might face a serious, yet beautiful challenge.
The distinction between space and place was based on ancient philosophers’
thoughts.For example Aristotle’s category theory, Descartes’s and Newton’s abso- lutist concept, Leibniz’s relative theory of space, or Kant’s a priori space concept In the 19th and 20th centuries, social scientists also began to work on the issue.
Their ideas form, as a whole, the social constructivist trend of spatiality. The post- modern so-called trialectic trend of spatial theoretical concepts (see, e.g. Berki:
2015) distinguishes three aspects of spatiality. The first of these is the space as we perceive (perceived space), that is, the measurable space on maps. The second is space, as we think (conceived space), that is, the mental, cognitive space (see, e.g., Lynch: 1960, Hall: 1966). And the third is space as we experience or use it (lived space), that is, the reality experienced by the subject at that particular moment (smells, colours, lights, sounds, state of mind etc.). This is the individual experience itself, a subjective experience, a set of individual impressions. In my interpretation it is the reception and experience of the spirit of place. In Beck’s view (1967), this trialectics is divided into the objective space, namely the actual mathematically descriptive space; the ego space, which is the space of the person’s psychological operations, and the immanent space, the inner, subjective space of the world of representations. The spatial concept associated with Lefebvre (1974) and Soja (1989) emphasizes the subjective perception of the spaces. They distinguish the space we experience along with the perceived space and the conceived space.
Today experience society, digitized space usage and smart city movement capture space sensation in two important aspects. These are efficiency and experiences.
There is growing demand for research on how people psychologically perceive the environment. Daniele Quercia, a Spanish computer scientist, for example, presents the so-called Happy Maps application in his TED presentation4, which not only focuses on the desired route concentrating on the efficiency, but also takes into
account how users like to feel themselves on the move. The application builds on geo-tagged images and uses related metadata to create alternative mapping where sites are – in a way – weighted based on human emotions.
In an environmental psychological interpretation, spatial identity serves to clearly identify place. Physical environments with an identity are able to summon a specific picture in the observer generated by the sum of the effects of sensory organs and that it forms through the subjective perception of the individual. Location experi- ence, space sensation is a multi-channel process. Sensing the atmosphere of a place affects the individual through various sensory channels. Space sensation is both a physical and an emotional process between the individual and the environment.
Yi Fu Tuan (1974) defines sense of space as a personal, psychological and emotional attachment to a given environment. This bondage is the love of place or topohilia.
Theorists dealing with spatial concept emphasize the multi-sensory nature of spatial experiences. According to Tuan (1977), the experience of location is realized through the synaesthesic interaction of all senses. In his concept of sensory vision, touching, hearing and smelling are taken into consideration. However, Kinayoglu (2009) points to the question of the primary role of vision. Some locations may be more characterized by sounds or odour than for example colours. In environmental psychology, the overwhelming dominance of visual perception over other forms of perception is caused by the hierarchization of distances between recipient and the subject of perception Vision is thought to be the most spatial, and therefore, the most influential channel of perception. Hearing, touching, smelling and tasting are more intimate channels and less spatial, due to smaller distances from the perceiver compared to vision. (Rodaway: 1994)
It can be said that different activities require different types of locations. The nature of the site determines a general, comprehensive atmosphere that is to some extent dependent on time. Changes, for example, with seasons, weather or daylight. These factors influence the light conditions most. (Norberg-Schulz: 2004)
Place is therefore a distinctive space. Space is formed into a number of individual experiences and thus becomes a place. In addition to the physical properties, the related experiences and emotions are also constituent elements of places. (Dúll: 2002) My definition – in line with the research field, based on the literature review – is the following: The spirit of place (genius loci) is the atmosphere, mood and emanation of a geographically / spatially identifiable area (with a name, purpose or function) that can only be perceived through experiences locally. The most important element of the definition is, on the one hand, identifiability and uniqueness, that is, that the atmosphere is typical of only that place in that composition. On the other hand, the spirit of place is an effect on the person that the subject only senses locally.
That is, the spirit of place is a mental perception of subjective experiences and emotions closely related to space. Questions can thus be approached by the mental representations of the subjects.
exPerience reSearch
One of the most focused marketing strategies today is the implicit, all-pervading delivering or rather staging of experiences, which is a clear competitive advantage in the markets.5 Although the experience in the case of festivals in the entertainment industry is explicit, its involvement in market research is also crucial. Tourism as experience industry creates conditions for gathering experiences but the experience is created in the subject. (Kovács: 2014) The circumstances in which the experience is acquired (e.g. place, time) and the subject itself therefore constitute determinant factors together.
For more than two decades, international literature has been focusing, even more intensively since the publication of ‘Experience Society’ by Schulze (1992), on the socio-economic background of experience. The experience economy as a new era is coined by Pine and Gilmore (1998). In their description, experience is an economic category with an epoch-making power, which comes after the service economy.
The marketing of digital age places great emphasis on experience-centred, customer- focused developments. This is also proven by the fact that there are countless terms for experiences in the professional language: product experience, service experience, brand experience, user experience, consumer experience, customer experience, experience design etc.
The concept of user experience was defined primarily in the context of digital device usage and Internet usage. According to Solis’s (2015) equation (besides the basic theory that customer experience=$), the experience (henceforth: X) consists of customer experience, user experience and brand experience (X=CX+UX+BX).
The X includes all contacts between the client and the company. During experience research professionals investigate what kind of feelings people have during the interaction with the brand, the products and services. It means that experience research actually deals with mapping feelings and thoughts.
Since X is about people, feelings and thoughts, its definition and research strongly builds on psychology and anthropology. Methods that are primarily involved in experience research include fieldwork, observation, mystery shopping, user inter- views, exit interviews, a variety of product tests, or metrics such as the so-called Net Promoter Score (NPS) that is an index number of user satisfaction that shows in a standard way to what extent the product and service would be offered to others customers by those who know the product or service.
Although during the experience design process mapping is used as a tool, such as describing and planning processes (mind mapping), describing the so-called customer journey, but mental mapping as a method is less used in market research for space-related customer experiences. In my paper, I try to present mental mapping as a well-suited method for marketing oriented research of space-related experiences.
reSearch goalS and QUeSTionS
The dilemma appearing in the literature dealing with the spirit of place is the connection between space and its parts. That is, if we can talk about the spirit of place in case of a given place, can we do the same for parts of a place? (Jankó: 2002) Considering this important theoretical question, I have formulated my main research objective: to interpret and represent the place, namely the socio-cultural environment, the lived/experienced material and spiritual space, which includes five research questions:
1. What are the characteristic spots?
2. What are the evolved/alternate places in addition to existing/established venues?
3. What are the forces creating place and forming space?
4. What are the determining elements of the atmosphere?
5. What are the channels of perception of the spirit of place?
aPPlied meThodS
I used three methods to explore and describe the spirit of place. Mental mapping (oriented recall mental mapping), questionnaire survey and participant observation (content analysis of fieldwork logs) were used. My main research method, mental mapping is an interdisciplinary area at the boundaries of geography, psychology, linguistics and social sciences. (For details, see: Letenyei: 2006) The other applied methods were supposed to complement this method.
Figure 1. One mental map about the experiences of a festival goer
In my interpretation, the spirit of place is perceived as a mental perception of subjective experiences and feelings closely related to the place, through verbally expressible experience. Therefore, I consider mental mapping as the most appropriate method. In order to reveal the elements of the spirit of place experienced by individuals and to visualize the places of the Festival, we asked the interviewees to point out their own space on a blank map showing the whole Sziget but only its main routes, which means they had to assign a cognitive or emotional buzzword for their important places (see Figure 1). So we actually have drawn experience maps with them.
A total number of 225 (N2015=95, N2016=130) respondents sketched their experi- ence map after having been chosen via random walk sampling, and after processing the maps the mental places of Sziget could be outlined. Regarding the gender distri- bution of the sample, 59 percent of respondents are women, 41 percent are male, and 49 percent are Hungarian and 51 percent are foreigners.
The used example of mental mapping, namely experience mapping is designed especially for the research of the spirit of place at Sziget Festival, which was used for the first time. So in 2015, when we used the method for the first time on field, it was important and useful to draw the experience so that we could use it more effectively next year.
Despite the slight difficulties, the Festival proved to be an excellent terrain for drawing the experience maps. Those who were asked considered the task playing, learning, and self-expression, so they were easily made to respond to them.
However, the interviewers had a difficult task, because although it was not allowed to suggest but it was essential to find out from the question that we were not expecting programmes or performers’ names, and we were not asking about their satisfaction. In order to facilitate this, field researchers might use helping, periphrastic and leading questions. So, for example: What is the place of Sziget that you are most tied to? (This could be either a tree or a place outside the Sziget.) Where did the most remarkable and memorable events happen to you (whether good or bad)?
The most common problem was, in spite of the clarifying questions, that often not the experiences or the emotions but the programmes, concerts, performances, or satisfaction were described by the respondents. The reason for this is that the task required a greater degree of creativity and emotional expression, and there were respondents who did not have the appropriate skills for it. Undecodable responses also meant a challenge; these were clearly due to the characteristics of the terrain, mainly the lack of concentration. For example, maps with only drawings, unreadable handwriting, or just placemarks.
We recorded the gender and nationality of the respondent on the back of the map and asked questions about certain supplementary information among which we asked how many times the respondents had been at Sziget and how many days they
had spent there that year. The spiritual and emotional intensity of the perception of place is dependent on the individuals, their cognition, knowledge, state of mind, mood, but also highly on the amount of time spent, that is, assimilation. (Jankó:
2002) Therefore we started the questionnaire in both years only from the third day.
In the middle of the festival week there were spectacularly fewer experiences on the cards than at the end of the week. Before starting the fieldwork, the area of Sziget was divided among the interviewers and we also paid attention to ask the respondents at various times of the day. Therefore, researchers had to record the exact time and location of the questionnaire on the back of each map. On the last day, I also asked each of the participating researchers to draw their own experience map, which I also included in the analysis.
Responding on a map contains a lot of information for the reserarcher not only in its content but visually as well. Mapping, spatial vision and representation are obviously subjective. This is supported by the fact that there were respondents who, compared to most of the respondents, drew their experiences on a blank map at a perspective angled at 90 or 180 degrees.
Via the questionnaire survey, I was basically looking for answers to two questions:
‘Describing the atmosphere with one word, what would it be? How would you describe the aura?’ ‘What is the first word that comes to your mind about the citizens of Sziget Festival?’The definitive atmosphere of Sziget Festival, which can be described in one word (or the one-word expression of the spirit of place), and the emanation of the Sziget society, that is, what kind of determining atmosphere the non-material nature of the spirit of place has, and how it contributes to the atmosphere. As Sziget is a special place – a festival society that exists only for a week in every year –, the important elements of the spirit of place are social elements, which are also personal and subjective mental elements: feelings, associations, and emanations.
These questions were asked as part of a longer questionnaire survey based on random walk sampling. In addition to the two questions, the questionnaire also contained questions about the most important values of the Festival, which also provided useful information on the spirit of place. The database containing the answers to the questionnaire questions also includes the day the questionnaire was filled in and the number of times the respondent had been on Sziget. These are background information that can be used to filter out respondents who are presumably less receptive to the spirit of place. There are a total number of 533 respondents in the questionnaire sample. 44 percent are male, 56 percent are female. 48 percent of the respondents are Hungarian, while 52 percent are foreigners. According to age composition, the respondents’ average age is 23 years (16-49 year olds).
The third method used was the analysis of fieldwork logs. The texts created by the researchers involved in participant observation, that is, the field logs also had elements of the spirit of place without the focus of the authors (i.e. researchers on the field). Content analysis can help the researcher to obtain relevant information that
is observable but is more difficult to grasp. This method is the least intrusive of the three. In the fieldwork sample, there are 30 individuals, Hungarians and cross-border Hungarians, 43 percent male and 57 percent female.
In the course of the analysis, I collected the words and phrases regarding the atmosphere elements, and then created research categories from them using and supplemented the information of the previously analysed and categorized ques- tionnaires and mapped information. Although most of the journals were written on a daily basis, the analysis was broken down by individuals. The encoding, analytical unit is the reception channel, which was carried out with the so-called open coding technique (see e.g. Strauss – Corbin: 1998). Without the mentioning frequencies, every adequate, at least one recurring term has been included in the category system.
As a result of the analysis, I outlined a concept map that presents the elements of the spirit of place and the channels of reception in Sziget Festival by organizing the experiences, feelings and aitudes into the structure.
reSearch oUTcomeS Places and mental spaces
After processing the maps, three sites outside the Sziget area became identifiable (see Figure 2). These can be considered as the foregrounds of Sziget. It can be seen that the Festival as a place goes out of the geographic boundaries in the mental space. These outlying places are the Auchan hypermarket, the road section with cordons, the check-in path that we call ’baffle in’, and the K-Bridge, which is con- sidered to be the main gateway to the Festival. Out of these, Auchan is the most significant. On the one hand, it is due to the frequency of mentioning and experi- ences, and partly because it is the most separate place, which mentally forms a part of the Sziget area and its atmosphere is part of the Festival. Its most important buzzwords are cheap, booze (alcohol) and food. Based on the maps, it can be said that the K-Bridge and the queue there are almost everybody’s remarkable first experience. Here the most striking expressions were excitement and joy.
After further analysis of the maps, several alternative so-called mental places have become identifiable. 17 places can be drawn based on the experience of a concrete venue (e.g. A38, Volt, Luminarium, Snowattack, Magic Mirror, Cirque du Sziget) and 10 places that have formed spontaneously, for example at the border of several locations a common mental place can be drawn, which were present on mental maps in both years. Among the latter, as a shared area of experience and function, we can highlight, for example, the information distribution area, the info spot intersection beyond the K-Bridge or what we call the Colosseum Square, which is bordered by the triangle of the Colosseum electronic music venue, the swing installation and the Aréna party tent. The former one because of the tobacco shop, Festipay, its meeting point functions and the big dust or mud mentioned, the latter because of the non-stop parties and party faces.
The most important sites, i.e. the sites mentioned by most, and the most experi- ence associated with them, are the Main Stage and the Beach-Chill area. It can be seen that Sziget has two important basic functions and thus has a basic atmosphere:
partying and vacation.
The mapping of the experience can clearly identify the most characteristic places and the places that might be called ‘islands on Sziget’ (which means Island in Hun- garian, that is, ‘islands on Island’). The latter are typical of being somewhat out of the general atmosphere of the Island, yet they add something to it overall. Thus, for example, the Boathouse, which has become a special place primarily because of its Hungarian identity, the only cash payment option, and the only English toilet acces- sible to anyone. VIP, for example, is such a place, too, whose atmosphere elements can be found in the descriptions of the field logs:
‘…a celeb can come to Sziget to be somewhere else and and won’t be dirty. It is good to be here, too, but in a different way.’
In case of the most characteristic places however, special markers and experi- ences are remarkable that cannot be observed elsewhere, which make the place well-descriptive but do not hang out from the atmosphere of the entire Sziget Festival. These are, for example, the Magic Mirror, the Beach, the Colosseum Square or Cirque du Sziget.
A total of 10 routes from the tangled road network appeared on the experience maps. These markings may refer to small places on roadside, or on-road experience.
By placing mental spaces, places defined by the experiences and the most exciting paths on a map the experience and received map of Sziget Festival becomes visible.
Figure 2. Visitors’ mental places on Sziget Festival (N=225)
Based on the results of the maps, it can be said that space-forming forces on Sziget are basically: 1. sleeping, 2. music, 3. eating, 4. alcohol, 5. coolness/shadows, refresh- ment and relaxation, 6. meeting others, 7. dust and mud. Personal, subjective experiences are space-forming forces affecting the mental place. Thus, these are all the invisible functions of places that can be recognized directly from the bottom, from field exploration perspectives, so exploratory research of this kind can have important applied research results and can contribute to practical, efficiency consi- derations as well.
The elements of the Sziget festival atmosphere
When writing their experiences on a blank map, some people wrote about their experiences and impressions on the page about the whole Sziget. These are clearly the atmosphere elements that can be linked to the spirit of place:
‘happiness, remaining, peaceful place in the world, freedom of expression’
‘Sziget is something like no other <3’
According to the questionnaire survey, respondents said that the most characteristic elements of the atmosphere were freedom, friendliness, craziness and relaxation/
chill (see Figure 3). As far as there is fatigue and exhaustion during the week, there is so much relaxation and chill. At one time it is a nonstop party, but also resting and vacation too. It is also apparent that weather-related atmosphere elements (e.g.
dust, heat) are also important in the experience of place.
Figure 3. Word cloud of the Sziget atmosphere, mood with one word (N=480)
How would you describe the mood with one word? How would you describe the atmosphere?
The spirit of place on Sziget is a factor which determines the community. The most characteristic features of the people on Sziget are the openness and friendliness according to the respondents’ answers (see Figure 4). An important feature of the Festival’s society is internationality, colourfulness, multiculturalism but craziness and wildness are also characteristic traits.
Figure 4. Word cloud of Sziget population with one word (N=470) What is the first word you would use to describe the people at Sziget?
The most important values of Sziget can be classified into twelve groups according to the answers to the question ‘What are the most important values of Sziget Festival?’
(see Figure 5). Among the answers, the values associated with the unique atmosphere and the place as a typical location can be grouped into a separate category.
Value groups frequency Examples
music, line up, artists, concerts,
bands 128 ‘multifaceted’
community, relationships,
friends, people 102 ‘to be together’ ‘many people become one’
equality, diversity, multi- culturalism, internationality, cultural difference, tolerance, open-mindedness
97 ‘everyone is equal and you can feel yourself free no matter where are you from’
freedom, peace, love 83 ‘do whatever’ ‘youcanbewhatever’
ambiance, vibe, atmosphere,
mood, feeling 48 ‘interesting fake realities’ ‘it is a special world here’
fun, have good time, party 47 ‘high quality entertainment’
the place, location 31
‘walking area’, ‘that you can camp inside’, ‘easy to camp anywhere’,
‘tegument’, ‘Budapest’ ‘escape bubble’
‘being away from everything’
art, theatre, circus, culture 24 ‘not just music and drinking, there are other programs’
relax, chill, no stress, don’t
worries, careless 12 ‘loose and turns off’
decoration 8 ‘creative decoration’
food, beverage 5 ‘good food’
weather, timing 3 ‘a week long’ ‘the timing, the middle of August is perfect to festivals’
Figure 5. In your opinion what are the most important values of Sziget Festival? (N=533) Out of a total of 533 respondents, 48 respondents gave a value indicator to the unique atmosphere of Sziget Festival. Considering the frequency of mentioning the value groups, it can be said that in addition to the programme offering, the popula- tion values have the greatest significance and value-adding effects.
The channels of perception
Information on the atmospheric elements of Sziget Festival obtained through the three methods can be grouped into the categories of perception. The elements structured this way can be divided into two main categories (see Figure 6). These are the sensory experience (material and physical elements) and the intersubjective experience (social elements), that is, the characteristics associated with local being.
The latter can be divided into two distinct subcategories. On the one hand, the elements referring to ideologies, values and, on the other, lifestyle and behaviour.
Concerning sensory experience, four of the five sensory perceptions are clearly identifiable with respect to Sziget Festival, while the fifth one, touch occurs within a group called weather. In this group, it is not possible to group all of these experien- ces into a single perception. For example, rain or dust can refer to the experience reception through sight, touch or even smell at the same time.
In addition to the two main groups of receptions, the sensory and the socio-cultural reception channels, there is also a group that collects more abstract experiences that cannot be classified into any of the categories. Here are mostly adjectives for the place as a whole, which may indicate tangible and intangible experiences and sensations.
Figure 6. Concept map – The constituents of the spirit of place according to the channels of perception on Sziget Festival
* The figure is based on the information obtained via the three methods
conclUSion
A festival which is geographically distinct is far beyond the spatial and physical boundaries. The atmosphere of the event and the experiences associated with it outlines the place more clearly than the objective, physically existing and measur- able boundaries. In case of Sziget Festival, the event venue is a special, isolated area surrounded by water. However, even outside the area of Sziget, places closely related to the atmosphere of the Festival can be identified. Beyond this, one can observe not only the experiences that are connected to official sites but also those that are spontaneously created. The forces creating places at the Festival prevail along natural and cultural conditions. Although there are some emerging sites that are indirectly, unconsciously the result of organization as well but they are still defined by those who use the space, the recipients, and the functions that are created, which by their very nature can only be seen from the bottom and very close.
The most important natural factors in the atmosphere are weather conditions (shadow, dust, mud) and the location itself (Danube island). In the field of cultural characteristics, not only activities which meet basic needs (such as sleeping, eating or refreshing) are essential but music and meeting are also of primary importance to create places.
The festival as a place of experiencing is a combination of several places and venue- defined atmospheres. There are places that stick out but still emblematically form a part of the Sziget atmosphere. By omiing them from the organization, the nature
of the Festival would radically change. However, identifying the characteristic places or the emerging mental places that are not programme places are also important in this respect.
Freedom, art and decoration as marketing themes clearly appear among the elements of the atmosphere. In case of a venue for a festival, place marketing and place branding supported by studies might have great importance. The location itself and its atmosphere provide experience for visitors (i.e. visitor experience, VE). So there- fore, the atmosphere of the place is essential for marketing communication and fes- tival development. That is why experience research is worth involving into marketing and market research, providing new information for various business (commercial, tourism etc.) developments.
The atmosphere of Sziget is described as unique by many people. Although we do not have comparative analysis yet but research proves that a festival as a periodi- cally created place is able to create its own atmosphere, the spirit of place.6
referenceS
Ács Gábor (2016), „A Sziget ellenfelei”, Forbes, June 2016, pp. 48.
Beck, R. (1967), „Spatial meaning and the properties of the environment”, in: Proshansky, H. M., Ittelson, W. H., Rivlin, L. G., ed., (1970) Environmental psychology: Man and his physical seing, New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., pp. 134-141.
Berki Márton (2015), „A térbeliség trialektikája”, Tér és Társadalom 2015/2, pp. 3-18.
Bőhm Antal, Táll Éva (1992), Pápa a rezisztens város: Egy kisváros a nyolcvanas évek végén, Budapest, MTA Politikai Tudományok Intézete
Bott, S. – G. Cantrill J. – Myers O. E. (2003), „Place and the Promise of Conservation Psycho- logy”, Human Ecology Review, 2003/10/2 pp. 100-112. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.
org/stable/24706959.
Data from Sziget Cultural Management Ltd.: https://en.szigetfestival.com/sponsors
Dúll Andrea (2004), „Helyek és dolgok: a tárgyi környezet jelentésének környezetpszichológiai megközelítései és mérési lehetőségei”, in: Kapitány Ágnes, Kapitány Gábor, ed., Termék- szemantika, Budapest, Magyar Iparművészeti Egyetem
Hall, E. T. (1966), The hidden dimension, New York, Anchor Books, pp. 53-77.
Jankó Ferenc (2002), „A hely szelleme, a településimage és településmarketing”, Tér és Társa- dalom, 2002/4 pp. 39-62.
Kinayoglu, G. (2009), The role of sound in making of a sense of place in real, virtual and aug- mented environments, PhD dissertation, Berkeley, University of California
Kovács Dezső (2014), „Élmény, élménygazdaság, élménytársadalom és turizmus”, Turizmus Bulletin, 2014/3-4, pp. 40-48.
Lefebvre, H. (1974), The production of space, London, Blackwell
Letenyei László (2006), „Mentális térkép szerkesztése”, in: Letenyei László, ed., Településkutatás I., Budapest, Új Mandátum Kiadó – Ráció Kiadó, pp. 147-172.
Lynch, K. (1960), The image of the city, Cambridge, MIT Press
Norberg-Schulz, Ch. (2004), „Genius loci”, Ökotáj, 2004/33-34, pp. 65–75.
Pine II, B. J. – Gilmore J. H. (1998), „Welcome to the experience economy”, Harvard Business Review, 76 (4), pp. 97-105.
Pocock, D., ed. (1981), Humanistic Geography and Literature: Essays on the Experience of Place, London, Croom Helm, https://doi.org/10.1016/0305-7488(83)90171-8
Quercia, D. (2014), Happy maps, https://www.ted.com/talks/daniele_quercia_happy_maps Rodaway, P. (1994), Sensuous Geographies: Body, Sense, and Place, London–New York, Routledge
Schulze, G. (1992), Die Erlebnisgesellschaft. Kultursoziologie der Gegenwart, Frankfurt am Main–New York, Campus Verlag
Soja, E. (1989), Postmodern Geographies: The Reassertion of Space in Critical Social Theory, London, Verso Press
Solis, B. (2015), X: The Experience When Business Meets Design, New York, John Wiley & Sons INC International Concepts
Strauss, A. L. – Corbin, J. M. (1998) „Open Coding” In: Basics of Qualitative Research: Tech- niques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Sage, http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/
9781452230153
Tuan, Y. F. (1974), Topophilia: a study of environmental perception, aitudes, and values, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Tuan, Y. F. (1977), Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press
noTeS
1. Our research team, in cooperation with Corvinus University of Budapest and Babes Bolyai University, supported by the Sziget Cultural Management Ltd. has been at the Festival for the fifrth time in 2018 (primarily as a cultural anthropological expedition).
2. https://en.szigetfestival.com/sponsors (02. 04. 2018) 3. See more: https://en.szigetfestival.com/sponsors
4. https://www.ted.com/talks/daniele_quercia_happy_maps (02. 04. 2018)
5. Based on the author’s experiences and expertise in field of market research and customer insight management.
6. Another version of the article was published: Viktória Pap: Researching the spirit of place.
Mental mapping on Sziget festival. In. Corvinus Journal of Sociology and Social Policy Vol 10, No 1 (2019) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14267/CJSSP.2019.1.6
